


A winter tale

by savaged



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Slight highschool AU, mentioned Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, the kids are still batkids though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 20:03:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13255608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savaged/pseuds/savaged
Summary: Jason's been missing for a couple of weeks. The batkids have a new chemistry teacher.





	A winter tale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Paradise_of_Mary_Jane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradise_of_Mary_Jane/gifts).



> I had a lot of fun writing this! Hope you like it〜

 

 

  
Snow flows weightlessly on the other side of the window, endless and unbothered by its spectators. Bored children. Tired, restless, hit, victims of adrenaline rushes daily. A social assistant would have a field day with them, if they were careless and forgot to hide their bruises. Instead, they lean back on their seats pretending not to wince in pain to listen to the teacher.

She's in her thirties, also tired, wearing her hair in a messy bun. The name ms. Isley is written in a lazy and floral cursive on the board -Cass tries to copy the handwriting down on her notebook and fails, leading her to stare at the comely face of the woman, wondering if she knows her from somewhere. Maybe from a parallel universe. She spaces out thinking about her until someone shoots her a paper ball from the other side of the classroom and hits her eye.

"Drake! Apologize to your classmate right now!"

"How did you learn my name so fast?"

"I won't repeat myself." Miss Isley folds her arms across her chest, and lowers her gaze at him. "Do it."

"Alright," Tim sighs and slouches on his desk, "hey Cass, I'm sorry. I was aiming your forehead."

Cass looks at him and just- Gives him a thumbs up. The paper's already in her pocket. Miss Isley shakes her head and goes back to copying formulas on the board.

 

-

 

1:00 am.

 

Snow still falls, but when it does it's on their hair; their faces, their shoulders. Cass feels it at her fingertips, like tiny kisses from the sky, from stars hidden by thick dark clouds. Dick is sprawled on the roof top of their dad's house, eyes closed and lashes almost frozen.

"Did you say he wanted to meet here? It's been almost half an hour."

"He had a lot of homework."

"You're in the same classes, how does he manage to spend most of the afternoon on one single essay while you're already here?"

"He gets distracted."

"Yeah, I gathered." Dick huffs and opens his eyes; "if he doesn't come in five minutes, I'm leaving."

"How's college?"

Dick's taken aback by the question, like he had completely forgot about the meaning of the word until now. "I... It's tiring. And I miss you guys. I miss the suit and going out. Jason's been gone for... Weeks now. You don't need to worry about it, though. I'm working on it- Just- trying to do my best." Dick purses his lips, folds his arms across his broad chest. "Look who it is. You're late, dude."

"Sorry."

"Second sorry of the day" Cass gives him a little smirk and Tim responds with a grimace.

"I'm a busy person, okay!? I'm the one doing all the work you two aren't doing. Do you know why I wanted to meet you here?"

"On a roof during the coldest storm this winter has had? Do tell."

"It's for dramatic effect," Tim brushes back his already damp hair, "Dick. Cass." He inhales and straightens his back, makes his joints crack. "Get your masks and suits on. I know who has kidnapped Jason."

"What!?"

"I know who has kidnapped Ja-"

"I heard that, Tim. Who was it?"

"...Go get your suits. We're going hunting."

Dick can only pinch his brow.

  
-

 

2:39 am.

  
Harleen Quinzel, gym teacher at Gotham Academy, sleeps with a wild-looking dog by her feet, wrapped in a knitted duvet. On the east side of her apartment, three strangers climb up the brick wall to take a rest on the fire exit stairs, two of them awfully quiet as the third one leads them on.

"She had all these pictures of Jason in her folder! You should have seen it! Gave me the creeps-"

"You're the only creep here going through her stuff out of instinct, Tim."

"And a good instinct, at that!"

"Where do you know her from, anyway? You haven't even told us her name."

Tim huffs and when he does, a small cloud of vapor leaves his lips. He points towards the closest window, then signals them to stay quiet. His cape flows in the wind making the noise of flapping wings, and Cass... Well, they never know what expression Cass makes with the way her suit is. The zipper over her mouth's always been closed during the nightshifts of their vigilante business.

She sees Tim peek through the window from the edge to check no one's near, then makes a come-hither gesture at them.

And when they kneel in front of the window, there they see her, Harleen Quinzel peacefully sleeping, turning over on her king sized bed. Cass unzips her mask.

"That's our gym teacher! She's not evil!"

"That's..." Tim makes a double take. "That's not who I was talking about."

"Then who is it!?" Someone turns on a light inside the apartment and a feminine silhouette is seen staring at them from across the room. "Oh. That doesn't look like Jason either, Tim."

"That's her, Dick. That's the kidnapper. We have to go."

"No, we're confronting her! If she knows something about him, about where he is, then-"

"No way, Dick! That's two of my teachers! They'll recognize me, my voice... And we don't have enough evidence, okay? I'm sorry, dude, but-"

The silhouette keeps walking towards the window with what seems a cellphone in her hand. She's probably calling the cops already- Or worse, her villain friends. Dick clenches his jaw. Tim's right, they don't have enough evidence, but she must know Jason. She had pictures of him.

"I'll take it from here, kid."

"Kid?"

"Cass, take Tim home. If things get ugly, you already know where I might have ended."

"No way I'm leaving!" the younger shrieks, "this was my discovery! I want to rescue Jason, too!"

"Stop yelling, you'll wake the whole building-"

"She's coming, Dick!"

Cass unzips her mask again, "the fact that you two are using your actual names is unreal."

Miss Isley opens her window with one raised eyebrow, not minding the cold grazing her bare skin. "May I ask what is going on with you clowns?"  
Tim shuts his mouth quickly. Panics. Cass gasps.

"Where's Jason?" Dick puts his hand on the windowsill and glides in as smooth as a cat. Isley barely resists it. "I'm here to get him."

"He's as good as dead."

"Well, yeah, that sounds like him," Dick points at her with one of his escrima sticks. She barely moves, but by the bed, the blonde woman starts to rustle under the sheets. "So you know where he is. Take me there."

"Are you dense? I just told you-"

"Will you two- You two _ssshutup_ " Harleen moans, "I was dreaming of you, Pam!"

"Tell me where Jason is!"

"O-m-g." Harleen sits up and rolls her eyes back, bothering the dog that was sleeping near her with the movements. "Pam was using him as a subject to develop a potion. Until my annoying ex kidnapped him."

"Harley!"

"Well, someone's gotta stick it to The Man!"

"Ok," Dick retreats, puts back the escrima stick, bites at his lower lip. "So... Any chance you tell me your ex's address or..."

"Or do we have to track you down and find out who you are, too?" Tim intervenes, stepping inside the apartment. Dick's fist closes around

"Sweetie," a caring hand falls on the top of her dog's, and Harleen lets out a small giggle, "I'm your gym teacher."

The dog  jumps to get Dick's leg. Cass barely has any time to shoot a tranquilizer at it, as Dick backflips flawlessly to dodge, for Harleen's delight. He goes through the window, then follow Red Robin and Black Bat, stumbling one after another into Gotham's polluted air. She's left alone clapping, with a very pissed off Pam still standing in the middle of their bedroom.

"I love when they do the backflip thing〜"

 

-

 

"Oh my god, I'm never going to PE again."

"She seemed like a fun teacher to me."

"She knows I'm Red Robin!"

"But she doesn't know you're Tim. She recognized you as a kid from her class, could be anyone. Besides... If she threatens to tell anyone, we can always give her a hand on messing up her ex. Do you have the guy's address yet?"

"Yeah, there's an overload of personal info on her facebook. I should warn her about the consequences of-"

"Faster, Tim!"

"Sorry, Cass. Okay. Yes. The guy's three blocks away from here. Race?"

"Race."

Drunk people down the street film them as they pass by, laughing and flying from top of the buildings to the top of cars, never touching the ground, carried by the wind.

 

-

  
3:32 am.

  
A green haired forty-something opens the door of the rat hole he calls home. There's a crowbar in his hand and red lipstick on him, like he's been playing with crayons and drew with them all over his face- pathetic. Nightwing winces at him.

"Where is Jason."

"Oh. Sorry, you might've gotten the wrong address. What are you kids doing out of bed?"

"I can smell Jason's cigarettes from here!"

"I didn't know your friend smoked a unique brand in the world made only for him?" the guy pulls out a lit cigarette out of his back pockets. "Want a drag?"

Dick slaps his hand away. "You have three seconds before I  knock you out."

"Doubt it."

Dick reaches for his escrima stick as Tim strikes an aggressive pose, and Cass takes two seconds before walking in and punching the guy straight in the face. It does take him aback, but, for whatever craziness he's a victim of, he recomposes with a smile.

"That was not nice."

Cass punches him again.

"That was not _fair_."

Again.

"I'd _reeeally_ like you to stop that." He grips the crowbar tighter. Blood is dripping from his nose onto the dirty floor. "You're making me mad, sweetheart- And you don't want to see _me_ mad."

Cass' last punch sends the guy falling over backwards. Before she realizes, the guy is back on his feet and ready to break the crowbar in half on Tim's head.

"NO!"

Cass drags Tim away from him, kicks his knee as Dick steps in, hitting his head with raw strength, a strength he's been accumulating from weeks of searching, of missing, of hurting too much.

 

  
He finds Jason sitting down by the wall, knees brought up to his chin, looking like a feral creature that's been mortally wounded. His hands are on his front, tied with rope and duct tape, and his hands are pale from the lack of blood flow. Stubble covers his upper lip and jaw, tiredness flashes through his eyes. Dick can't help but drop down to his knees and hug him tightly, trying to comfort him while he starts to weep quietly.

"I missed you _so_ much."

"Can you- Can you untie my hands first, please?"

Dick shakes his head, "yeah, sorry. Good to see you."

"You, too," Jason manages to smile at him. He relaxes into the sudden lack of pressure around his hands. He sees Tim and Cass in their suits come run for him into a tight hug. "Thanks for coming."

"Are you alright?"

"Meh. Could be worse. Don't you guys have school tomorrow, though?"

Tim rolls his eyes.

 

-

  
8:00 am.

  
Snow has stopped falling. Tim's snoozing on top of his desk.

Miss Isley's eyes pierce through everyone from behind her book, while her students pretend to do the exercises. Cass looks at Tim and then back at her, searching for any kind of expression. It's a staring contest, ending in the young boy's head wrapped around his own arms.

"Drake," the teacher startles him, "did you have a rough night?"

He sighs and lifts his heavy head to look at her with bags under his eyes, shakes his head 'no' cautiously, then drops down again. Cass smirks.

"What about you, Cain?"

She gives her a thumbs up. The rest of the class smiles.

"You two will have extra homework today."

"I'm sure our older brother will be able to help us" Tim mutters bitterly, not loud enough to be sure if miss Isley heard or not. She doesn't bother asking, and shakes her head while going back to her book.

 

On the other side of the window, Jason and Dick stare at the female figure sitting at the teacher's desk.

"We need to find out what she's up to, before someone else becomes her _subject_. We'll have to infiltrate the school. Go undercover."

"I really don't wanna go back to high school, Dick. It sucked."

"That's because we didn't go to class together. I _loved_ school."

"Nerd," Jason chuckles, and tugs Dick's hat to mess with his hair. "Are you ready for a new mission, Professor Grayson?"

"Are _you_?"

"Only if I get to wear a fake mustache."

"Deal."

 


End file.
